Those familiar to the Warcraft real time strategy (RTS) games will find gameplay a little different this time around, but the offensive content remains similar to its predecessors- just with better graphics. Even so, Warcraft 3 is a very fun game if you can look past its dark elements and other concerns.STORY
Warcraft 3's story line is simple. The world of Lorderon is not expecting an apocalyptic demon invasion from the skies, so a prophet who knows of this attempts to warn the two races of the island Lorderon to flee overseas to the lands of Kalimdor, where they can regroup and defend their world from the demons. Some characters think the prophet is a madman and they stay in the island only to be slaughtered, while some heed his warning and flee to Kalimdor.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is terrific, though it swerves from its predecessors and may turn off some veteran players. (I liked the changes, but my brother hated them and would rather play Warcraft 2.) Similar to its predecessors, it is a RTS, therefore, you build a base, mass troops, and invade your enemy. You must select a good balance of units and deploy them against your enemy. There are 4 races in the game that you play as, each with their strengths and weaknesses and special units. However, this time around, Warcraft 3 introduces heros, and gains an RPG element- leveling up and purchasing upgrades with each level. This makes the game a bit more complicated then the Warcrafts before it. You must keep up with your hero and constantly cast the spells needed to decimate the enemy while protecting your hero with lesser troops. The addition of heros IS fun, but as I said, some may find Warcraft 3 more burdensome.

VIOLENCE
As with most RTS games, you must build an army and slaughter your opponents. So, expect to see a lot of violence. When a unit dies, they cry out in pain, blood spraying from their wounds, and collapse on the ground, where their body decomposes over time. The camera is positioned very far away from the action, though, but you can still easily see the violence.
To be mentioned here, the Undead race has units that can devour these corpses to regain their health, or they can pick up the corpses and store them for use later. Pretty gruesome stuff.

ADULT CONTENT
-Language
A few D***s, H***s, B*****ds in the dialogue, especially in the opening clips for each mission. You can skip them, but you'll miss out on some of the story and you may not know what you're doing. There's probably one or two of these curse words for each opening clip. Also, some units, mainly the humans, say some things if you click them over and over again. However, the beautiful, CG-rendered cutscenes are without any bad language, so it'll be a blast to work your way through the campaigns to watch these.
-Nudity
Though there are no nude units, there are some female units showing a bit of cleavage. But, the camera is displayed very far away from the battlefield, so you wouldn't really notice at first. However, you really do notice on the opening menu for the Night Elves team, as it shows a close-up of a Night Elf female unit wearing a bikini-ish outfit. Also, the Harpies, an enemy monster, are flying bird women who wear no clothes, but there is nothing detailed.

OFFENSIVE CONTENT
The majority of the game deals with demons and an evil invasion. Evil creatures fall from the skies and storm over the world. Later in the game, you must play as the Undead race who have close contact with demons. Near the end of the game, the character Illidan falls to the temptation of demons and becomes a demon himself. In one part of the game, evil Orcs sacrifice human peasants on an occultic altar to summon demons. In a cutscene, the main antagonist draws a symbol in the sand and creates a sand replica of buildings, then destroys the replica, and the real buildings are destroyed in the same manner.
But what I found the most offensive was dealing with the character Prince Arthas. He begins as a very good character, following the Light like his fellow Paladin, but slowly, as revenge grips his heart, he falls to the Undead. You must play as him in the Undead campaign, and you must kill all of his good Paladin friends, including his own father. Prince Arthas is never redeemed in this game, and after playing as him, I felt a bit dirty.
The Undead themselves are completely evil, and when you play as them, you find yourself dealing with some really nasty looking units, collecting corpses, and killing the good guys. However, after you get through with the Undead campaign, the rest of the game you play as the good guys again who are killing the evil Undead.
The game does draw a line between good and evil, and the good guys do win in the end, but the game makes you play as the bad guys, which is a bit disturbing.
Also, some typical fantasy elements like casting spells on the enemy is common here. There are also wizards and arch-mages. This may offend some.

OVERALL RATING
Overall, Warcraft 3 was a fun, fresh RTS experience, but with its occultic situations and dark material, I found it hard to thoroughly enjoy. I would not recommend this game to anyone younger then fifteen.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Eden Communications or the Christian Answers Network.

About this game

Comments are closed

Comments are currently closed on this review.

TheophilusJuly 30, 2008

I don’t think Warcraft 3 is really a bad game for Christians. It’s more about strategy than it is about some great story. The undead race is pretty ugly but so were the Zerg in Starcraft. To each race it’s own plusses and minusses. If a race in the game offends you don’t play as it; fight against it!

I also recommend Warcraft 2 which is arguably better than Warcraft 3 in some respects (Warcraft 2 has naval battles, the sweet paladin units, etc.)

BillSeptember 27, 2008

The fact that so many christians are defending playing this game is truly a sad commentary on how weak the church has become. We can so easily justify the sin/rebellion we want to hang on to. “It’s only a game, I’m not actually casting a spell on someone.”
I would suggest carefully reading Deuteronomy 18:9-13.
Divination, witchcraft, interpreting omens, sorcery, casting spells, mediums, spiritists.
These things are detestable to the God that we claim to follow.
Then I suggest reading Matthew 5:20-48.
Here, Jesus himself closes the arguement about not “actually” doing these things.
There is a very clear confrontation between the things promoted in World of Warcraft and God’s word. You must make a choice.
The bottom line is found in 1 John 2:15

TheophilusOctober 1, 2008

I agree that the undead race is despicable and probably should not be played by a Christian player. That being said there are many options in Warcraft 3 that allow you to be who you want (especially in the custom mode). I don’t think you are going to go to hell for playing Warcraft 3. It’s a strategy game at its core based around war tactics. The point is to become skilled in these tactics.

I would suggest reading Matthew 15:17-20. I know people out there who are not “defiled” by playing games like Warcraft 3; they don’t internalize the bad things but enjoy it for what it is: a strategy video game. I think we are all called, as Christian gamers (especially those that play more mature games) not to internalize the bad things that are part of the games we play, no matter their size or form.

I’m pretty sure that the commandments against divination, spells, etc. apply to gaining power through sources opposed to God (i.e. those from the devil). I don’t believe we are really capable of any real magic unless we allow ourselves to be possessed (and therefore, not really in control of these powers). That being said, the fantasy magic in video games like Warcraft 3 exist in a realm where some people who are good are granted supernatural powers. These powers, as long as they are used in good ways, are not bad. Read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series to get a sense of what I mean.

That being said, I wouldn’t recommend being the undead in Warcraft 3 unless you really want to beat the whole single player game and/or will not allow it to be internalized in yourself.

And one more note, I’m not a huge Warcraft 3 fan nor am I a huge Warcraft fan in general (although I have played a lot of Warcraft 1-3). I’m only defending the good aspects of this game and not the bad. If you feel it is contrary to your faith as a Christian then by no means should you play it.

JohanOctober 20, 2008

Alright, i know this might be the right place for me to be, but i randomly entered this site by google. And, no offence, but are you guys mad? It is A GAME. A GAME!

Warcraft III is an artwork of colored pixels and sound effects. I wouldn’t have believed that such extremists were playing games anyway.

I actually love playing as the undeads, as i believe both the effects and gameplay are the absolutely funniest while playing as them. And don’t dare saying this makes a worse christian of me.

I believe religion and entertainment, nor politics should be mixed together.

I am not making this post to flame, nor offend any christians, but come on. It is a video game.

Justin'n'timeNovember 25, 2008

Thank you all for your input. I am 15 and I was trying to decide if the Warcraft series was somthing I wuold want to play. after reading your input I have deciced to give it a try.

BalrogDecember 21, 2008

A few things the review forgot to mention: At the ending of the game, a prophet says something along the lines that the world doesn’t need God and that mankind has their fates in their own hands. Definitely not the Christian worldview.

Also, it talks of self redemption. One of the characters becomes a ‘chaos demon’ by drinking from an evil fountain. later he ‘frees himself’ by choosing to kill a demon captain. There is no way we can redeem ourselves. We can only be redeemed by the grace of God and the love of Christ.

I’m probably interpreting it a lot deeper then intended, but, if anyone is a deep thinker, they have to watch for the lies in this game and know the truth of the Bible.

No one here (that I’m aware of) is an extremist. We all just want to be aware of the message being brought out in games and whether it is something that we should be playing and supporting (via buying the game) or not. I would suggest reading the “Christian Gamers Code” on the bottom to understand what the point of this site is.

To some extent I had felt (starting out here) the same way as you do about this site and that games are just games. However I have always felt that it’s important for Christians to be responsible gamers, especially now that games have become more artistic. I can’t understand Christians who get themselves involved in games where all you do is clearly evil stuff and where there is no overall redeeming value. If you like games where you can do those things and you enjoy it for its evil than I think there is something obviously morally wrong there. How you judge whether a game’s good outweighs its bad is a different thing, as well as whether its bad should really even be taken seriously (as is the debate here, I think). This is really how I approach this site.

And for the record, religion and games have and will continue to be connected whether or not you think they should be. Religion and art in general (and here we’re also referring to video games as art, to which I agree with you) have and will continue to grow together, for better or for worse. I think there is a potential for good in this relation between art and video games though that hopefully future games will take advantage of.

So in the future Johan please don’t call anybody here extremists. We’re all just trying to inform our consciences in order to make morally right decisions based on our Christian faith. That doesn’t make us “extremists.” Rather, it makes us responsible Christians.

Michael Jackson is my hero!May 19, 2009

Bill was out of line when he said if we liked this game our ‘churches where weak.’ Its okay to find somthing offensive, but theres no reason say somone’s a bad christian because they aren’t as easily offended as you. Its good to be a responsible christian and try to warn people if you find somthing offensive in the game, but theres no need to question somone’s walk with god because somone dosn’t find somthing offensive that you find offensive. I think Johan called bill an exstremist not because of his opinon, but because he was offended by bill’s comment. I’m NOT justifying calling somone an exstremist, I’m just pointing out that bill was out of line in his comment.

Christian Gamers Code

The Christian Gamer is a believer in Jesus Christ as the way to eternal salvation (John 3:16). As a Christian, responsible to God for my actions and thoughts, I promise to choose my games carefully. My goal is to be a good witness in my purchasing decisions, in my game play with others, and in the use of my time.